- Date
- January 24, 1982, 02:30 local (07:30 UTC)
- Place
- Taunton, MA
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N80420Cessna 172
- Weather
- Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report January 24, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820124002699A
- Case key
- 72794
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The student pilot took off at night on an unsupervised pleasure flight. His passenger did not hold any type of pilot certificate. After takeoff, the pilot encountered fog. He used the nbd for orientation and was able to return to the airport. He reported obtaining visual contact with the runway after descending to 500 ft, but was too high to land. The pilot stated that he started to make a 360 degree turn and descend. However, as he was making the turn, he entered another fog bank, became disoriented, and crashed into trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N80420
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17266579
- Airframe hours
- 1,741
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Deveron Cole
- Registered owner
- Deveron Cole
- Departed
- TAN · Taunton, MA
- Destination
- TAN · Taunton, MA
- Airport
- TAN
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 52
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 51 total · 30 in this make and model · 51 as pilot in command · 11 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Temperature
- 113 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N80420 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.